The HD-PGDU3 copies frequently used data onto the RAM when turned on

May 21, 2014 08:55 GMT  ·  By

The USB 3.0 technology is pretty fast, so fast that it's no longer something that can limit the performance of external hard drives. That means that makers of such storage devices have found a way to make them run faster. Buffalo seems to have managed it.

The USB 3.0 technology is somewhat challenged by solid-state drives, because those storage units actually do have what it takes to run very, very quickly.

However, hard disk drives, made of magnetic platters and other moving parts like motors and read heads, don't have that advantage, though they do possess larger storage capacities and lower prices.

Buffalo wanted to make its external HDDs work better than they used to, enough to finally use the bandwidth of USB 3.0 fully. So it installed 1 GB of DDR3 DRAM cache on its latest model, which is dubbed HD-PGDU3.

That's about as much random access memory as normal PCs had up until five to ten years ago, which goes to show just how fast things have changed.

The role of the 1 GB DDR3 DRAM cache is to store a copy of the most frequently used files on the HD-PGDU3 External HDD.

Once you turn the PC and HDD on, the latter will immediately initiate the copy procedure, ensuring very quick access speeds.

Also, the same cache is employed when you copy something from the PC to the drive. The files are loaded onto the DRAM very quickly, then copied on the platters by means of a background process.

All the while, you can still access and edit the files or folders in the cache, and you don't need to worry about power interruptions or turning the HDD off either.

Buffalo was careful to install a lithium-ion battery in the HD-PGDU3, you see. It will take over when the USB connection stops supplying energy. An LED battery level meter always shows how much electricity remains inside.

All this leads to transfer speeds of up to 400 MB/s, which are hard to find even on normal, SATA HDDs.

The Buffalo HD-PGDU3 external hard disk drive comes in 500 GB and 1 TB and will keep “hot data” in the cache for a few hours. Regardless of capacity, the unit weighs 250 grams / 0.55 pounds and measures 81 mm x 18 mm x 133 mm / 3.18 x 0.70 x 5.23 inches. As for the color, it's a dark charcoal grey, nearly black really.